In her solo exhibition of retrospective and contemporary work and aptly subtitled ‘A Textural Exhibition of an Exploration of plant dyes’, the artist wants to show the vast range of colour that can be obtained from plant dyes and earth pigments, hopefully inspiring others to have a play.
By Isabel Gilbet-Palmer
Lizzy Leckie (a Scottish surname due to her father’s heritage) was born in South Otago, and made her way north through her adult life to settle in Kūaotunu with her sculptor husband Chris Charteris.
Known and appreciated as Kuaotunu’s local harakeke and wool weaver, plant dyer and pigment maker, she’s taken a sabbatical from her working life with Artists in the Making in Whitianga to get “stuck in” to her own art practice.
For three weeks in July, she spent time on a residency project beneath the majestic Taranaki Maunga at Opunake’s village, at Out of the Blue Studio Gallery, founded by Viv Davy, on the west coast’s Surf Highway 54. Lizzy swapped her regular Kuaotunu white beach walks for black sands there. When asked if the coastal village was more like home or like Raglan, she replied: Both, but neither has a specific cheese shop. A happy foodies delight. (She’s one of those, too.)
She created a solo exhibition of her retrospective and contemporary work: Mapping Colour – A Textural Exhibition of an Exploration of plant dyes. Lizzie wants to show the vast range of colour that can be obtained from plant dyes and earth pigments, hopefully inspiring others to have a play. The central installation, a textural painting using wool, was named Colour is feeling, Colour is memory, Colour is sound, walk with me.
Following the warm welcome by Opunake creative community and artist friends at her opening (with lots of cheese ), she later offered a Star making workshop to celebrate Puanga/Matariki, using her delicious dyed wool, and a talk / walk through her process. She experiments with dyes made from botanicals she forages, grows from seed herself, Indigo being one of them, or finds among seaweed or in the ngahere.
During her stay, she met visitors, a coterie of colleagues and, as a dedicated weaver, enjoyed creating a new project on the monstrous resident Glimakra loom. (The Lamborghini of looms) Hers was a Weaver’s sabbatical holiday.
Good to have you home again, Lizzy. Let’s have an “At Home Exhibition” with friends here soon.
